STARKE, Fla., July 1 (UPI) -- Florida corrections officials executed convicted child murderer Mark Dean Schwab Tuesday in the state's first execution in two years.
Schwab, 38, was put to death under new lethal injection procedures at the state prison in Starke, Fla., WESH-TV in Orlando reported. He became the first Florida inmate executed since Angel Nieves Diaz was put to death in 2006. Problems with Diaz's execution caused him to suffer unnecessarily, officials said.
Lethal injections were put on hold in the wake of U.S. Supreme Court challenges to their constitutionality, but resumed in April after the high court ruled they did not constitute "cruel and unusual punishment."
The nation's highest court refused earlier in the day to block Schwab's execution. Schwab was convicted of the 1991 rape and slaying of 11-year-old Junny Rios-Martinez of Cocoa, Fla., and had been on death row since 1992.
Schwab visited with his mother and aunt before eating his final meal of fried eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, buttered toast and chocolate milk, WESH reported. Prison officials said he was polite before the execution, but made no final statement.
